Kiss My Aztec!, a world-premiere musical written by 2018 Special Tony Award recipient John Leguizamo and Tony Taccone, will fill the final slot of Berkeley Repertory Theatre's previously announced 2018-2019 season.
The musical, directed by Taccone, will be the final production of his tenure as artistic director and cap his 33-year career at Berkeley Rep.
Kiss My Aztec!, presented May 28–July 14, 2019, features a book by Leguizamo and Taccone, music by Benjamin Velez, and lyrics by David Kamp, Velez, and Leguizamo. The musical is based on an original screenplay by Leguizamo and Stephen Chbosky.
With a musical fusion of bolero, hip hop, merengue, and rap, and a mashup of 16th century and modern slang, Kiss My Aztec! celebrates, elevates, and commemorates Latinx culture. Led by the unlikely duo of Colombina (a feminist warrior/rapper) and Pepe (a clown)—and empowered by a prophecy promising a new leader called the Great Brown Hope—they plot to overthrow their Spanish colonizers. Along the way they collide with an evil Viceroy, his inbred millennial daughter, and an absurd trio of singing Spanish Inquisitors.
Casting will be announced at a later date.
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“It seems only appropriate that my tenure as artistic director at Berkeley Rep will conclude with Kiss My Aztec!,” says Taccone. “The show is a raucous, roller coaster-of-a-new musical that, for one reason or another, is sure to send you screaming into the night. Kiss My Aztec! is a result of my ongoing collaboration with the brilliant John Leguizamo, whom I worked with so closely on Latin History for Morons. John and I share a love of comedy, political satire, and the same medication. We bring those old obsessions to this new venture, a modern day parable set in the 16th century about colonialism, genocide, and the subjugation of women. Now, that’s comedy!”
As previously announced, Leguizamo and Springsteen on Broadway's Bruce Springsteen will both receive Special Tony Awards June 10 for their respective engagements on Broadway.
